Fast, Medium, and Slow

In Music class, Friday November 4th, 2016, my classmates did an exercise where our teacher played three different speeds of music on the piano, fast, medium, and slow, and instructed us to improv movement to match the same speed quality. After completing this exercise, my classmates and I noticed that there was generally one speed that we preferred more than the others.

Our teacher told us that our internal clock or tempo will determine what speed we prefer. The closer the music is to our internal clock, the more we will like the speed of the music. He then told us that we can change our internal clock before we dance. This change should occur, for example, during the the introduction of a ballet combination at the barre, or when an instructor gives the class before the musician accompanies the dancers.

Since this class, consciously changing my internal clock before I dance has benefitted me a lot.
I no longer feel rushed or early while dancing and I feel like my dancing has quality, dynamics, and fullness.